Financial Blogger

Choosing a financial adviser is probably one of the most crucial financial decisions you’ll ever make. But finding good quality financial advice isn’t always easy. Here are some tips to help with your search.

What is financial advice?

The first step to finding good financial advice is understanding what advice you actually need. Most mis-selling is caused by financial advisers either misinterpreting your needs or simply not following the rules and selling you what they think you should have rather than what you actually need.

You can avoid some of this problem by thinking through your financial needs before you go looking for an adviser, so you are very clear what you expect the adviser to do and what you want to get out of the advice process. That way you can tell if they are falling short and find someone else.

What types of financial advice are there?

There are many different types of financial advisers all doing seemingly similar things, so it can be a nightmare to know where to start. However, the key thing to remember is that advisers are not allowed to sell certain products unless they are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can find out if your adviser is regulated by going to the official register.

Have you ever wondered where you’ll get the most sunlight for your money? Home buyers are seeking to achieve maximum sunshine for minimum cost.

Even with summer on the way, Britain, unfortunately does not see a lot of sun or warm weather. So, it’s easy to understand why holiday home buyers are swapping their Blackpool property for a glamourous property in Spain or Turkey.

Buying a holiday home in the sunniest locations, makes perfect sense. The only issue home buyers feel concerned with is the price. But it doesn’t have to be ridiculously expensive. Holiday apartments can be surprisingly affordable, even in hot and beautiful places.

If you are looking for a loan, you may or may not have heard of the option of a collateral loan. Essentially, collateral is used to help you secure a loan. When you borrow money through a collateral loan, you are agreeing to hand over your property to the lender if you fail to repay the agreed amount for the loan, whether that be a vehicle, a house or an item of value.

Collateral loans make it possible for people to obtain large amounts of money even if they have a bad credit score. Traditional unsecured loans rely on an individual’s credit score and affordability in order to be eligible – but this makes it hard for those with adverse credit to get the funds they need. (Source: Payday Bad Credit). Hence the use of collateral allows you to leverage the value of your asset and get access to cash, even if it means potentially losing this if you cannot make repayments.

How Collateral Works

If you pledge an asset as collateral when securing a loan, the lender has a right to take whatever you have pledged for their own. As a borrower, you will have to show proof of ownership (Source: FCA) The lender is legally allowed to sell on your property (which is now theirs, as agreed by you in the contract) in order to obtain the money which, they should have been paid as part of your agreement. However, of course, lenders prefer to get their money back in cash form, but they will have to take action against you if they have no other option.